"Sagiri, hurry up and open the door! I came to play with you!"
Standing at the entrance of the Izumi residence, Elf Yamada shouted loudly toward a room on the second floor.
As soon as her voice fell, the curtain of that room rustled.
When the curtain was pulled open, a small silver-haired head appeared in the view of both Eriri and Elf Yamada.
"Good morning, Sagiri-chan~"
Eriri smiled and waved at the girl on the second floor.
Upon seeing Eriri, Sagiri Izumi instantly became excited. She quickly opened the window and leaned half her body outside.
"Eriri-nee, wait just a second! I'll be right down!"
After shouting, Sagiri didn't even bother closing the window and dashed out of her room as fast as she could.
On her way toward the stairs, she ran right into her mother, Chisato Izumi, who had just stepped out of her own room.
"Sagiri, I heard you say Eriri's name just now. Did Eriri and Elf-chan come over to visit?"
Chisato had clearly heard Elf Yamada's voice from downstairs. Since Elf often came to play with Sagiri, Chisato was very familiar with her voice. Even without using any special perception, she could easily recognize it.
And, of course, Sagiri's excited cry of "Eriri-nee" hadn't escaped her notice either. That was why she had come out to check.
"Yeah! Eriri-nee is right outside!"
Sagiri replied without even looking back as she dashed down the stairs.
"Ah, so impatient as always," Chisato said with a helpless smile, shaking her head in amusement.
Despite her words, her own pace toward the first floor was just as quick.
By the time Sagiri reached the entrance, Chisato was only a few steps behind her.
Sagiri wasted no time. She ran straight to the front door, swung it open, and was immediately greeted by the sight of Eriri standing there. As for Elf Yamada beside her—Sagiri seemed to conveniently ignore her.
"Eriri-nee!"
Sagiri called out joyfully and ran straight into Eriri's arms, spreading her small hands wide.
Although the worlds were connected through the Cross-Realm Teleportation, Sagiri hadn't seen Eriri in quite some time.
So now that she was finally in front of her again, her excitement was impossible to hide.
Eriri didn't reject the incoming hug at all. She opened her arms and embraced Sagiri's soft, petite body.
Elf Yamada, watching from the side, didn't mind in the slightest. After all, her relationship with Eriri had already advanced beyond what Sagiri could dream of. There was no reason to be jealous over something like this.
Just then, Chisato Izumi also stepped outside.
She glanced around briefly, then smiled warmly at Eriri and Elf Yamada standing at the entrance.
"Eriri, Elf-chan, don't just stand outside. Come on in."
It was only nine in the morning, but there were already people walking by the street. Naturally, what was happening at the Izumi doorstep was starting to draw a few curious looks.
"Alright, Chisato-nee."
Eriri nodded with a smile and patted Sagiri's back gently.
"Sagiri-chan, let's go inside~"
"Mm-hmm! Let's go, Eriri-nee!"
Sagiri lifted her head from Eriri's embrace, released her hold, and instead grabbed Eriri's hand, leading her into the house.
Elf Yamada followed obediently by Eriri's side, saying nothing.
Eriri didn't stay at the Izumi residence for too long. After about an hour, she returned to the Saekano world.
Elf Yamada, however, remained behind to continue playing with Sagiri.
Not long after Eriri left, Elf Yamada suddenly pulled out her phone, leaned close to Sagiri, and said mysteriously:
"Sagiri-chan, let me show you something nice~"
"Something nice? What is it?"
Sagiri looked puzzled but still leaned curiously toward Elf Yamada's phone.
By then, Elf Yamada had already opened her photo gallery and tapped on the most recent images.
When Sagiri saw the photos of Eriri and Elf Yamada walking closely side by side, she blinked in surprise.
"Elf-chan, when did you and Eriri-nee go out together? How come I didn't know?"
"Just yesterday! Eriri-nee and I went on a date all day long~" Elf Yamada replied with a bright, smug smile.
Then she began scrolling through her gallery—photo after photo—all taken during yesterday's outing.
Her tone and demeanor were nothing short of pure showing off. At the very least, Sagiri's face was now filled with open envy.
But Elf Yamada wasn't done bragging yet.
...
Before Eriri had gone to the Oreimo world to spend the day alone with Elf Yamada, she had already been considering visiting the Goblin Slayer world to establish a new Cross-Realm Teleportation Gate there.
Now that her date with Elf was over, her attention shifted back to that plan.
Thinking of it, she decided to act immediately and contacted Sister Frelia through the Multiverse Chat & Friendship Group.
[Eriri (Level 8, Stage 9): Frelia, I plan to come to your world tomorrow to establish a Cross-Realm Teleportation Gate. @Frelia (Level 7, Stage 1)]
[Frelia (Level 7, Stage 1): Alright, you're welcome anytime.]
[Chika Fujiwara (Level 7, Stage 2): Wait a sec—your power level?]
[Arifureta (Level 7, Stage 4 / group leader): It's only been a few days, and Frelia's already reached Level 7? You must've used the chat group's time control system, right?!]
[Frelia (Level 7, Stage 1): That's right. I accelerated our world's time flow by a thousandfold.]
[Asuna Yuuki (Level 7, Stage 2): A thousandfold…?! That's insane!]
[Chika Fujiwara (Level 7, Stage 2): Then how long has it been over there?]
[Frelia (Level 7, Stage 1): Not that long—about ten years. I've already restored the time flow to normal now.]
[Keika Kiyotaki (Level 3, Stage 7): Ten years only? As expected of an elf—your sense of time really is different!]
Keika Kiyotaki, who was attending class, couldn't help but sigh after reading Frelia's message.
She was only fifteen years old—ten years accounted for nearly two-thirds of her life. Yet to an elf like Frelia, it was something dismissed with a simple "only."
[Arche (Level 7, Stage 2): So there really are people who use accelerated time flow to train their abilities, huh.]
[Frelia (Level 7, Stage 1): Huh? Is there something wrong with that?]
[Arche (Level 7, Stage 2): Not at all! I just find it interesting. After all, speeding up time doesn't change how you feel time passing, so I've always thought it was kind of pointless.]
[Frelia (Level 7, Stage 1): I suppose that's true, but I was curious about the feature, so I tried it out. Besides, ten years doesn't feel long to me—it passed in the blink of an eye.]
In reality, reaching Level 7, Stage 1 didn't take anywhere near ten years. When Chika Fujiwara and the others had advanced from ordinary humans to Level 7, Stage 1, it had only taken them about a year.
Frelia had simply been far too laid-back—she never maintained a consistent daily training routine.
For her, doing in ten days what others accomplished in one was good enough.
[Gokou Ruri (Level 7, Stage 2): I have a question about this time acceleration function.]
[Eriri (Level 8, Stage 9): What question?]
[Gokou Ruri (Level 7, Stage 2): Many of us in the group are from the same world. For example, Elf-chan and me, or the Fujiwara sisters…]
[Gokou Ruri (Level 7, Stage 2): If Elf-chan wants to accelerate the time flow in our world, but I don't, will the group follow her decision or reject it because of me?]
[Eriri (Level 8, Stage 9): That depends on what you both agree upon. As long as all members from the same world reach a consensus, the chat group will adjust time accordingly. If not, it remains unchanged.]
[Gokou Ruri (Level 7, Stage 2): I see, that makes sense.]
[Chika Fujiwara (Level 7, Stage 2): That's actually pretty considerate~]
[Chika Fujiwara (Level 7, Stage 2): Oh right, Frelia, since you advanced to Level 7, Stage 1, does that mean you've used up all your points?]
[Frelia (Level 7, Stage 1): Not all. I saved a few tens of millions. I plan to buy an invitation ticket to invite my sister into the group—and keep the rest for helping her strengthen herself.]
[Arifureta (Level 7, Stage 4 / group leader): Speaking of invitation tickets, tomorrow's the refresh day again. I wonder who'll get the right to buy one this time.]
[Chika Fujiwara (Level 7, Stage 2): We'll find out soon enough~ Not that I need it, hehe~]
[Gokou Ruri (Level 7, Stage 2): …]
...
Time passed quickly, and before long, another day had gone by.
As usual, after breakfast the next morning, Eriri set out for her next destination—the Goblin Slayer world—to establish a new Cross-Realm Teleportation Gate.
The moment she arrived, she could immediately sense the difference in this world's atmosphere.
The rules here were chaotic and disorderly, bound by a mysterious die that controlled the very fabric of the world.
Everything—the appearance of monsters, the birth of powerful adventurers, even the races that would populate the world—was determined by the roll of this die.
The gods of this world threw their dice to decide its fate. With each roll, the world's rules shifted, turning this entire realm into nothing more than a playground for divine amusement.
However, these so-called gods weren't particularly powerful. They couldn't even fully control the dice, nor could they predict the outcome of each throw.
The fate of nearly every being in this world was bound to the dice. Because of one roll, Frelia had been born as a forest elf—and because of another, she had become a high elf.
The dice didn't control the thoughts of living beings, but it guided them toward inevitable conclusions.
In theory, someone with Frelia's current strength should have long escaped the dice's influence. Yet she had remained unnoticed by the gods.
That was mainly because she had lived quietly and discreetly. During the past ten years, her forest had faced no monster invasions, so she had never needed to display her overwhelming power—the kind that could annihilate any creature in this world.
Eriri glanced briefly toward the divine realm suspended in another dimension and at the colossal dice being cast by the gods, then withdrew her gaze.
She didn't destroy the divine realm or the dice. To her, the fate of this world had nothing to do with her. As long as the so-called gods didn't provoke her, she had no interest in dealing with them.
With Frelia's presence here, the gods were unlikely to cause much trouble anyway.
Besides, Eriri intended to cultivate other individuals in this world.
She had appeared in the forest where the elves lived, a few hundred meters away from Frelia's current location.
Before coming here, Eriri hadn't informed Frelia in the chat group, so the elf had no idea that she had already arrived.
Just as Eriri was about to head toward her, a slender green-haired elf suddenly emerged from the woods and stopped in front of her.
The elf girl had a delicate face but a surprisingly flat figure.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" the green-haired elf asked curiously, her bright green eyes filled with admiration.
Before Eriri could answer, the girl couldn't help but exclaim, "You're so beautiful! Even prettier than my sister!"
"You're very pretty yourself," Eriri replied with a soft smile, studying the girl with interest.
She instantly recognized her—the younger sister of Frelia, the High Elf Archer.
Though she was over two thousand years old, for an elf, she was still considered a young girl—both in appearance and in heart.
Hearing Eriri's compliment, the High Elf Archer blushed, scratching her head shyly while letting out a few awkward laughs.
"Hehe, thank you for the compliment!"
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she blinked and asked again, "Ah, right! You still haven't told me—who are you, and what are you doing here?"
—
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